Neumann, Lam, Dahari, Gretch, Wiley, Layden, Perelson, 1998

Model Status

This is the original unchecked version of the model imported from the previous CellML model repository, 24-Jan-2006.

Model Structure

It is estimated that 2 to 15 percent of the world's population is infected with the hepatitis C virus. Of these people, 20 to 30 percent develop cirrhosis of the liver, and 1 to 3 percent develop liver cancer. Hepatitis C is currently treated with interferon (IFN), but unfortunately, this treatment is only successful in about 11 to 30 percent of cases, and the mechanism by which it acts is not well understood. In other viral infections, such as HIV, studying the viral dynamics during antiviral therapy has helped improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease and also how the drugs function.

The mathematical model presented here by Neumann et al. is based on the kinetic data generated from a study of 23 patients with hepatitis C. These patients were administered with daily injections of IFN, at one of three possible doses, over the course of 14 days. The model uses three differential equations to describe how the numbers of target (uninfected) cells, and productively infected cells, and the viral load change over time and how they differ under different IFN treatments (see the figure below).

The complete original paper reference is cited below:

Hepatitis C Viral Dynamics in Vivo and the Antiviral Efficacy of Interferon-alpha Therapy, Avidan U. Neumann, Nancy P. Lam, Harel Dahari, David R. Gretch, Thelma E. Wiley, Thomas J. Layden, and Alan S. Perelson, 1998, Science , 282, 103-107. (Full text (HTML) and PDF versions of the article are available to subscribers on the Science website.) PubMed ID: 9756471

Schematic diagram of the viral dynamics of Hepatitis C in vivo.